IVYBRIDGE RFC went down 43-14 to visiting Matson in their final South West One game of the season.

The Bridge dodged relegation at the end of the 2023-24 season thanks to a late surge up the table, but were unable to repeat their escape act a second time and drop back into South West Two West as a result.

It is more than 10 years since Ivybridge played below South West One level and they will hope to make it a brief visit.

Ivybridge were 14-5 up approaching half time against the villagers from Gloucestershire but were outmuscled by the visiting pack as the game wore on. Four tries in quick succession put the game to bed in Matson’s favour.

Steve Atkinson, the caretaker coach at Ivybridge said: “We had 25-30 minutes without the ball. We just defended and defended.

“Fair play to Matson, they have some big old boys, and they just ran it down our throats.

“It was close at half-time, but we came out for the second half and we just didn’t have the ball for another 20 minutes.

“Matson are a good side. It was a really good arm-wrestle but we just didn’t have enough ball.”

There was an early finish at Cross-in-Hand after a player from both sides was red-carded. Dan Gloyns was the Ivybridge player ordered off.

Henry Trudgill and Adam Lilley scored the Ivybridge tries. Both were converted by Matt Grieveson.

Finishing towards the bottom alongside Ivybridge were Chew Valley and Marlborough, who ended the season with 38 and 39 points respectively, to Ivybridge’s 24.

At the other end, Barnstaple and Brixham both boasted records of 18-1-3, the former coming out on top with 95 points, two more than Brixham’s final total.